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In a video deposition, Wanda Nuckles answered questions about the 2014 death of a patient under her watch in the affirmative: Yes, she began doing chest compressions on 89-year-old James Dempsey after being told he had stopped breathing at the Georgia nursing home where she was a nursing supervisor. Yes, she gave the WWII vet CPR continuously until paramedics arrived. What she didn't know was that a hidden camera installed by his family had videoed it all. 11Alive managed to get a DeKalb County court to unseal the video, which was used as part of a suit by Dempsey's family, and describes the very different story it paints: A gasping Dempsey called out for help half a dozen times before losing consciousness. A responding nurse didn't check his vital signs. Then, laughter.

Nuckles did not immediately begin doing CPR, and as the nursing staff tried to get Dempsey's oxygen machine to work, Nuckles and others are heard laughing. When asked during the deposition what was so funny, she replied, "I can't even remember all that as you can see." The Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation staff didn't call 911 for a full 57 minutes, and during that time, they're seen starting and stopping compressions, with a nursing expert calling that kind of interrupted pacing "absolutely inappropriate." Though the nursing home learned of the video in November 2014, 11Alive notes the nurses were not fired for another 10 months. (Read more nursing homes stories.)

I remember when a family wanted to sue a facility for not giving CPR to their mom who died in a nursing facility. But the mom had signed a perfectly legal DNR order. So it was basically the dead mom against the family. We have specific laws for that to protect the facility from such suits. I know the family is often upset that the facility didn't do everything they could but if there is a DNR in play, there is not much legally they can do. And what makes it worse is that HIPAA protects the medical records of dead people. So the family was even more upset they could not have access to their mother's medical records because she did not sign a release to that effect. In my grandmother's own case, my mom had a power of attorney document on file with the hospital. Now my grandmother never went into any home because she was at mom's until death. But she did have a DNR on file at the hospital and a copy of the power of attorney.

EFYOU

Nov 20, 2017 1:11 PM CST

A family so pathetic that even though they knew something was wrong, they still were too lazy to do more than a mere hidden camera instead of guarding grandpa in person, or moving him to a better facility.

doug bishop

Nov 20, 2017 5:48 AM CST

the most humane thing she could ov did was smother him with a pillow ...